TMC flags discrepancies in SIR guidelines, writes to CEO alleging confusion

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday wrote to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), alleging inconsistencies between the Chief Election Commissioner’s (CEC) recent statements and the written instructions issued to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, which it said has led to widespread confusion.

The ruling party in the state alleged that while CEC Gyanesh Kumar, during a Press conference on October 27, had said that blood relatives such as uncles could be mentioned in SIR forms, but the written instructions and software interface restrict the permissible ‘relative’ category to parents and grandparents only.

“The CEC had stated that while filling up the enumeration form, a person may insert either their own details (if present in the previous SIR list) or those of a relative, specifically mentioning the term ‘chacha’ (uncle), thereby implying that mapping through uncles or other blood relatives is permissible,” reads the letter written to the CEO by Trinamool Congress leader Aroop Biswas.

Stating that the confusion has hampered field operations, the letter added: “BLOs are unable to proceed with data entry for many genuine citizens who fall outside the narrow parent/grandparent linkage.”

Trinamool Congress demanded that the EC formally reflect the verbal clarification in the official instruction manual and BLO software interface, allowing mapping through uncles and other blood relatives.

BLOs have already started the distribution of door-to-door enumeration for the SIR. Trinamool Congress already alleged that the names of many voters, which remained there in the hardcopy of the 2002 electoral roll, were missing in the softcopy uploaded by the commission. Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had brought a serious allegation saying that names of many voters were missing in the 2002 Electoral Roll in Kulpi in South 24-Parganas. He raised a question as to why flawed 2003 rolls were being used instead of the legally mandated 2002 SIR rolls in Kulpi.

Trinamool Congress had also lodged a complaint with the CEO, West Bengal, demanding clarity on why outdated and flawed 2003 rolls are being used in Kulpi under the Special Intensive Revision process. When the integrity of the voter list itself is in question, how can citizens trust the process? Trinamool Congress asked.

Meanwhile, more than 3.04 crore enumeration forms were distributed in the state up to 8.00 pm on Friday.